Exegesis:

ho huios autou ho presbuteros ‘his elder son.’ autou refers back to ho patēr in v. 22.

en agrō ‘in the field’ (cf. v. 15), presumably at work there.

kai hōs erchomenos ēggisen tē oikia ‘and when going home he approached the house.’ erchomenos lit. ‘going,’ here implicitly ‘going home,’ hence, ‘on his way home,’ ‘on his way back.’

ēkousen sumphōnias kai chorōn ‘he heard music and dancing.’

sumphōnia either abstract, ‘music,’ or concrete, ‘instrument,’ preferably the former.

choros ‘dance,’ here in the plural ‘dancing.’

(V. 26) proskalesamenos hena tōn paidōn ‘after calling one of the servants.’ For proskaleō cf. on 7.18. For pais cf. on 7.7; pais and doulos (v. 22) are synonymous.

epunthaneto ti an eiē tauta ‘he enquired what this was.’ The imperfect tense is conative. The indirect question with the unusual optative with an may express astonishment on the part of the speaker.

Translation:

Now, see 1.57, and cf. ‘in the meantime’ (Willibrord), ‘while such-things-were-happening’ (Tae’ 1933).

His elder son, or, ‘that (old) man’s elder son,’ ‘the elder son,’ ‘the firstborn son’ (Bahasa Indonesia); or, ‘his (or, that young man’s) elder brother’ (cf. Sranan Tongo).

Was in the field, i.e. ‘was (working) in the field,’ here probably referring to arable land that he tilled or reaped.

Drew near to, cf. 7.12.

Music and dancing, or, ‘noise of merry-making’ (Ekari, not specifying the manner). Music, or, ‘sound of music’ (Trukese, Pohnpeian), ‘singing’ (West Nyanja, similarly Tae,’ Batak Toba), ‘music and clapping’ (Zarma, where dancing unaccompanied by clapping is unthinkable). Idiom may require a reference to the instruments and/or persons making the music, e.g. ‘drums being beaten’ (Shona 1966), ‘persons beating-the-drum’ (Toraja-Sa’dan), ‘sound of flutes’ (Uab Meto), ‘sound of a (percussion) orchestra’ (Javanese, Thai 1967), ‘making-music’ (Tzeltal). Dancing, or, ‘sound of dancing, or, of a dance’ (cf. e.g. Uab Meto), ‘people dancing’ (Shona 1966). Terms used are sometimes more generic, e.g. ‘making-party,’ which includes dancing (Tzeltal), or more specific, e.g. ‘people performing the simbong (round dance with chorus, performed at a feast usually given after a person’s long absence)’ (Toraja-Sa’dan). Connotations of available terms for dancing may range from solemn (ritual or temple dance) to frivolous; one should choose a term referring to a folk dance, culturally regarded as an acceptable form of merry-making.

(V. 26) What this meant, or, ‘what this might be,’ ‘what was happening’; or as a direct question, “What’s going on?” (Good News Translation), ‘What are those people doing?’ (Balinese).

Quoted with permission from Reiling, J. and Swellengrebel, J.L. A Handbook on the Gospel of Luke. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1971. For this and other handbooks for translators see here . Make sure to also consult the Handbook on the Gospel of Mark for parallel or similar verses.