A method includes queuing a plurality of changes to a hierarchical index construct including a plurality of index structures. An index structure includes a plurality of nodes and a node is dispersed storage error encoded to produce a set of encoded data slices (EDSs). The method further includes, when triggered, determining a plurality of affected nodes of the plurality of index structures based on the plurality of changes. The method further includes retrieving a threshold number of EDSs and dispersed storage error decoding the threshold number of EDSs to produce the plurality of affected nodes. The method further includes, for a change of the plurality of changes, identifying one or more nodes of the plurality of affected nodes for which the change is applicable and updating each of the one or more nodes based on the change to produce updated one or more nodes.