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I think it depends on the context! Sometimes it means something being in complete harmony with something else "like ripples in a pond", and sometimes it means something that has a delicate effect like the verse that Mr. Hamza Babiker mentioned here. You have to figure out the meaning of the simile from the original text first.
My compliments to you dear Adeeb Haddad
The poet Ibn Al-Roumi said:
إن أنس لا أنس خبازاً مررت به يدحو الرقاقة وشك اللمح بالبصر
ما بين رؤيتها في كفه كرة وبين رؤيتها قوراء كالقمر
إلا بمقدار ماتنداح دائرة في صفحة الماء يرمي فيه بالحجر
Among the things I will never forget
was seeing a baker rolling pastry as fast as a glimpse by the eye
the time between seing it a ball in his hand, and seing it circulated as the moon
is just like the time ripples need to circulate on water surface by a falling stone
the disturbance that happens in the water when you throw a rock in it
