Using your figures, with a pitch attitude of 10 and an AoA of 40, that would mean that the Flight Path Vector was 30 below the horizontal. In other words, the aircraft was descending very steeply but with its nose above the horizon.
A drawing would help:
Sketch a side-view of an A330 with its nose about 10 above the horizontal.
Add an arrow from the CofG pointing down at 30 from the horizontal.
The angle between the longitudinal axis of the aircraft and the arrow is the Angle of Attack, which is 10+30=40.
As an extreme example, if the aircraft was flying with the nose level (zero pitch) but descending vertically, the AoA would be 90.
I understand that even if the Flight Path Vector had been displayed on the accident aircraft, due to the extreme angle it would not have been visible below the bottom of the screen.
Hope this helps?