In terms of the basic tools available to you, Lisp and Lua are remarkably similar. In both you will rely heavily on closures to get the job you mentioned done.

In terms of the basic tools available to you, Lisp and Lua are remarkably similar. In both you will rely heavily on closures to get the job you mentioned done. Lua offers the table as its primary data structure, though this can also be used as an array. Lisp offers the list, though this can also be used as a table (associative container, whatever). Where Lisp and Lua differ is that Lisps are infinitely more malleable as languages. You can more-or-less invent new syntax to assist in your problem domain. For example, if you find that constructing your 'event nodes' requires boilerplate in Lua, you can write Lisp macros that make things clear again. Or you might write a little macro DSL to make constructing your graphs easier. I enjoy Lua, but I constantly pine for the flexibility of a Lisp when Lua's clunky syntax annoys me. I find Fennel is a good compromise between the two - especially if you already have Lua code that you want to port over.