Human experience is characterized by different sounds that can influence individuals’ emotional and cognitive states. For instance, nowadays, we are subjected to various types of music in diverse intrinsic settings such as hospitals, shopping malls, restaurants, railways. Researchers found that music has the potential to enhance listeners’ moods positively. Therefore, the current study aims to understand the perceptions of Indians (non-musicians) toward three different genres of music on the valence (pleasure) and arousal (calming) dimensions. Based on previous literature, nine music stimuli were selected from the Indian Classical, Western Classical, and Natural Sounds categories. One hundred and eight healthy participants (Males = 61, Females = 47) were instructed to listen to music stimuli for 60–90 s and rate them on a 9-point Likert scale on valence and arousal dimensions. Data revealed that participants rated the valence of natural sound (M = 7.00, SD = 1.21) (F (2, 107) = 25.42, p = 0.01) as the most pleasant music stimuli, with the lowest arousal rating (M = 3.42, SD = 1.81) (F (2, 107) = 112.91, p = 0.01). Furthermore, the data suggests that participants in the study felt pleasant and calm after listening to the natural sound of music. However, they experienced high arousal (M = 6.63, SD = 1.14) and moderate pleasure (M = 5.73, SD = 1.28) when listening to Western music. It is evident from the dataset that different genres of music have different levels of emotional perception. Thus, this study hypothesizes the importance of selecting music stimuli based on user perception and environmental situations.