Apparently I'm doing something fundamentally wrong. Files in the workspace and Syncronize view show as needed to be added to the repository, but when I select commit, I get a message stating "No changed items were selected..." as shown in the image. I've tried adding files to the index, but there's nothing in the staging view either. I have another project in the same state, so I'm sure it's operator error. Any help is appreciated, thanks!
In continuing to research and learn how to use Git, it seems using the Git Staging view is the correct approach. I'm still curious why the files show up in the Syncronize view as needing to be added to the repository. There are no files in the Unstaged Changes pane in the Git Staging view either.
You need to add new files (to the index and therefore to the commit). I would use the git staging view, it allows you to simply drag all changes to include them in the commit.