解:
(1)$\begin{cases}2x + y = 5a,①\\x - 3y=-a + 7,②\end{cases}$
$①\times3 + ②$得:
$\begin{aligned}3(2x + y)+(x - 3y)&=3\times5a+(-a + 7)\\6x+3y+x - 3y&=15a - a + 7\\7x&=14a + 7\\x&=2a + 1\end{aligned}$
将$x = 2a + 1$代入①得:
$\begin{aligned}2(2a + 1)+y&=5a\\4a+2 + y&=5a\\y&=a - 2\end{aligned}$
所以原方程组的解为$\begin{cases}x = 2a + 1\\y = a - 2\end{cases}。$
(2)由题意得$\begin{cases}2a + 1\geqslant 0\\a - 2\lt 0\end{cases}$
解不等式$2a + 1\geqslant 0$得:
$\begin{aligned}2a&\geqslant -1\\a&\geqslant-\frac{1}{2}\end{aligned}$
解不等式$a - 2\lt 0$得:$a\lt 2$
所以字母$a$的取值范围是$-\frac{1}{2}\leqslant a\lt 2。$