This is a salon-style character piece by the French composer Étienne Rey. It is characterized by its graceful, mid-nineteenth-century melodic sensibility typical of minor Romantic-era composers.
The primary challenge is maintaining a consistent, lyrical tone while managing the pedaling in the waltz accompaniment.
Comparable difficulty and character — good candidates for what to learn next.
Au désert! (Op.32) is rated Henle level 3 of 9 — late beginner repertoire, roughly ABRSM grades 4–5. In the RCM system it corresponds to about level 4.
You should be comfortable at Henle level 3 — meaning you can already play level 2–3 pieces cleanly. Learning it one level early is possible as a stretch piece, but more than that usually leads to months of frustration.
A typical performance of Au désert! (Op.32) lasts about 3 minutes.
Au désert! (Op.32) is available as free public-domain sheet music on IMSLP — the score is linked directly from this page.
Pieces at a comparable difficulty and character include Au port by Étienne Rey, Black Beauty by Duke Ellington, Albumblatt für Clara Schumann by Johannes Brahms — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.