The pilot pulls back on the controls, which causes the elevator to produce a downward force at the tail, which in turn causes the nose to rotate up.

when the aircraft nose rotates upwards, the angle of attack of the wings (relative to the air flow) increases and more lift is produced.

other than control surface deflection, (or poor technique) there are no physical changes to the aircraft. were you perhaps confusing "angle of attack" with "angle of incidence"?

the FAA has a good free book: Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge
in particular look at chapters 3 and 4.