Jenkins Multibranch Pipelines - Configuring properties in branches?
You can use the form with the double-quoted string
string(defaultValue: "branch-${env.GIT_BRANCH}", description: 'Some description', name: 'SOME_VALUE')in setting the default values of the parameters (as you describe in your question)
It's limited by the fact that when the 'properties' step is executed in one build, it sets the parameter defaults that appear on the next build. This is because the parameter entry is done before the Jenkinsfile is even available.