Это будет работать на t-sql, для mysql могут быть небольшие различия.
select co.content_type,
coalesce(c1.some_text,c2.some_text,c3.some_text) as some_text,
coalesce(c1.id,c2.id,c3.id) as content_id
from content_order co
left join content1 c1 on co.content_id = c1.id and co.content_type = 'content1'
left join content2 c2 on co.content_id = c2.id and co.content_type = 'content2'
left join content3 c3 on co.content_id = c3.id and co.content_type = 'content3'
order by co.id