This is a typical 19th-century American salon work aimed at the domestic sheet music market. It is distinct for its optimistic tone and straightforward, repetitive structure.
At Henle 2 this is a beginner-level piece, where steady coordination between the hands is the main hurdle. The main demands: precise articulation — the difference between crisp and blurred is the piece; a true singing tone, with the melody floating above the accompaniment; and fine finger independence within the hand.
Practice achieving clean articulation in the melodic passages.
Comparable difficulty and character — good candidates for what to learn next.
A level or two down with the same spirit — ideal if this piece is still out of reach.
Where this piece's skills lead: slightly harder works making similar technical demands.
Dream of Joy is rated Henle level 2 of 9 — beginner repertoire, roughly ABRSM grades 2–3. In the RCM system it corresponds to about level 3.
You should be comfortable at Henle level 2 — meaning you can already play level 1–2 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 Dream of Joy lasts about 3 minutes.
Dream of Joy 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 Bounding Ball Polka by Thomas Payne Westendorf, Birth of the Flowers by Thomas Payne Westendorf, Berceuse by Jules Massenet — see the full similar-pieces list on this page.